It’s common to feel depressed or helpless after you’ve experienced a heart attack or have been diagnosed with heart disease. Those who’ve experienced these cardiac conditions are often met with feelings of uncertainty and feel as though their lives are out of their control.

Bouts of depression or sadness are normal and typically go away within a few weeks. However, in some cases, depression can last for a longer period of time and may keep you from living your everyday life.

More than 80% of those who have symptoms of clinical depression don’t receive the specific treatment they need. If your depression has become severe or persists for longer than two or more weeks, it may be in your best interest to seek treatment through inpatient neuropsychiatric care facilities to help you recover.

What role does depression play in heart disease?

According to the American Heart Journal, as many as 15% of patients with heart disease experience severe depression. Depression can have a negative impact not only on our daily activities and social interactions but also on our health.

Untreated depression can cause stress, which may lead to irregular heart rhythms, weakened immune systems, and high blood pressure. In fact, those who have clinical depression have been shown to exhibit increased proinflammatory markers, increased platelet reactivity, and decreased heart variability. These are all considered risk factors for heart disease.

What’s more, depression can increase the risk of blood clots and heart attack in those who already have heart disease. Depression has even been known to increase pain, cause social isolation, and increase fatigue in those recovering from their cardiac surgery.

When should I seek help for my depression?

Depression and feelings of sadness are normal for the first few weeks after a diagnosis or surgery. However, when your depression stays with you for two or more weeks it may be a problem.

You should consider seeking treatment for your depression if other symptoms such as social withdrawal, inability to participate in daily activities, and thoughts of suicide or feelings that you don’t want to be around anymore. You should also seek treatment if your depression is making it difficult for you to recover from your surgery.

If you or a loved one are depressed and your depression is impacting your daily life, it may be in your best interest to seek treatment through inpatient neuropsychiatric care facilities.

NeuroPsychiatric Hospitals offers a wide range of neuropsychiatric programs such as art therapy and recreational therapy to help you get back to where you want to be in your life. For more information, contact the inpatient neuropsychiatric care facilities of NeuroPsychiatric Hospitals today.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, is an anxiety disorder characterized by excessive, upsetting thoughts that drive ritualized and repetitive behaviors called compulsions. The individual’s compulsions are irrational actions that help to temporarily ease the anxiety caused by the individual’s unwanted thoughts.

These behavioral compulsions can interfere with a person’s daily activities and can often be distressing. OCD is a lifelong diagnosis and may be genetic in some cases. Therefore, although neurobehavioral care and neuropsychiatric care is available, the disorder can’t be cured.

Understanding OCD

An OCD diagnosis requires a neuropsychiatric evaluation by a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist. However, those who have OCD often experience common distressing thoughts including:

Excessive moral/religious ideas and fears

Superstitions

Symmetry

Violent images

Sexual images

Fear of harming oneself or others

Fear of contamination

Those without OCD are able to brush these intrusive thoughts aside. However, those with OCD become consumed and anxious by these thoughts.

As a result, an OCD sufferer will sometimes (but not always) perform a compulsion to ease this anxiety. Common compulsions include:

Excessive double-checking

Excessively checking that loved ones are safe

Repeating certain words, counting, or tapping

Arranging things in a specific way

Excessive praying triggered by religious fear

Hoarding behavior

It isn’t necessarily OCD if a person behaves a certain way such as wanting their desk to be tidy. However, a person may have OCD if they’re unable to continue with their work before their desk is completely organized.

How To Help A Loved One With OCD

OCD is an anxiety disorder, which means certain things such as impatience can exacerbate the disorder and its symptoms. When a person criticizes the sufferer for their behavior or tells them to stop performing their rituals, it can increase the sufferer’s anxiety and increase the need to perform the ritual.

Additionally, the sufferer’s ritualistic behavior is not something they want to partake in but perform compulsively. Their behavior is a symptom of their disorder and not a character flaw.

That being said, try to be as patient with the sufferer as possible while still remaining kind. By communicating with your loved one on what helps them feel balanced you can feel more supportive and less critical.

Only use humor in the situation if your loved one has expressed that this is okay. Otherwise, joking about their rituals and their disorder can increase anxiety.

OCD And The Elderly: Testing For Dementia

Although OCD isn’t related to dementia, obsessive and compulsive symptoms are often similar to those suffering from dementia. A person is diagnosed with dementia every four seconds. If an elderly loved one has never shown previous signs of OCD it may be in their best interest to receive a neuropsychiatric evaluation for dementia.

OCD is a neuropsychiatric condition that can be treated with the help of cognitive behavioral therapy and medication. For more information on neuropsychiatric programs or to schedule a neuropsychiatric evaluation, contact NeuroPsychiatric Hospital today.

Anxiety is a normal reaction to stressful events such as moving to a new home, the diagnosis of an illness, or the death of a loved one. However, when you begin to irrationally deal with certain situations and anxiety begins to affect your everyday activities, it may be a sign you’re suffering from anxiety disorder rather than normal anxiety.

The elderly are just as likely to suffer from anxiety disorders as younger people. However, it should be noted that anxiety isn’t a normal sign of aging. If you’re suffering from ongoing anxiety you should definitely seek neurobehavioral care and psychiatric treatment.

Anxiety Disorders And The Elderly

There are several different kinds of anxiety disorders that the elderly may experience including General Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. However, here we’re going to discuss both Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder specifically.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Those who experience generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD, are unable to control their anxiety and may irrationally fear day to day activities without being able to understand why. Those who are older may become aware of their GAD because of lifestyle changes that may trigger stronger anxiety.

However, anxiety can sometimes be a side effect of some medications, which can make diagnosing GAD in older adults more challenging. Still, if your anxiety is interfering with your daily life you may benefit from neurobehavioral care and neuropsychiatric programs for anxiety.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

OCD is an anxiety disorder that involves persistent thoughts that are upsetting to the individual. While upsetting thoughts are normal in those who are neurotypical, those with OCD obsess about these thoughts and often perform compulsive rituals to irrationally relieve their resulting anxiety.

Approximately 350,000,000 people around the world suffer from some type of depression and many of those who suffer from OCD will develop depression. However, OCD can be treated using neurobehavioral care such as cognitive behavioral therapy and medication.

It should be noted that those who are elderly and suffer from OCD do not necessarily have dementia or Alzheimer’s. Although obsessing and specific compulsions aren’t uncommon in those with dementia, OCD symptoms aren’t conclusively tied to dementia.

If you or a loved one has been experiencing an anxiety disorder that is interfering with your daily life and happiness, you may benefit from psychiatric care. For more information on neuropsychiatric conditions and treatments that may be able to help you, contact NeuroPsychiatric Hospitals today.

Around the world, up to 15 million people suffer from social anxiety disorder. Unfortunately, many who suffer from this disorder don’t often seek treatment because they assume they’re introverted, shy, or simply lack social skills.

However, social anxiety disorder is much more than mere shyness, and this disorder can have a detrimental impact on one’s life without psychiatric treatment. For this reason, it may be in your best interest to seek help from an Indianapolis psychiatric care facility if you suspect you have an anxiety disorder.

Here’s one important measure of whether your social anxiety rises to the level of a genuine medical concern: is your anxiety negatively affecting your life? If the answer is yes, then it may be time to ask for help and treatment.

But if you still aren’t sure whether you have social anxiety or if you’re just introverted or shy, only a healthcare professional will be able to make an official diagnosis. However, if you’re looking for more information, consider the following signs you may be suffering from social anxiety disorder:

You’re distressed by your behavior. One of the biggest signs a person is suffering from a disorder is that their condition has impacted their lives enough that they’re distressed by it. For instance, a person may not have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder if they’re bothered by three objects not being aligned perfectly.

However, they may have OCD if they’re unable to continue their day until three objects are aligned perfectly and this interruption of their day distresses them.

You intentionally skip events that interest you. Another sign of social anxiety disorder is that you miss out on events that interest you because you’re worried you’ll look awkward or silly. Even if the event is for beginners, such as a dance class, you convince yourself that others won’t look as ridiculous as you might. Therefore, you decide to skip the event altogether. This is different from introversion, where introverts may opt out of attending events because socializing drains them of energy over time.

You think friends, classmates, and coworkers look down on you. Social anxiety often plays into what’s called cognitive distortions. One common cognitive distortion is the belief that those you’re closest to secretly dislike you or look down on you without evidence to prove it. This belief can cause you to avoid common areas where you might run into these people. You may also avoid hanging out with your friends.

If you or a loved one is suffering from an anxiety disorder, you may benefit from an Indianapolis psychiatric care facility. Psychiatric care facilities offer neuropsychiatric evaluations and geriatric care from compassionate doctors who can help you get the treatment you need. For more information, contact NeuroPsychiatric Hospitals today.

Dementia is a group of symptoms that affect cognitive functioning such as reasoning and memory. Because ADHD is a cognitive disorder, the symptoms of adult ADHD can sometimes overlap with symptoms of dementia. As a result, many American adults may fear they have dementia as they age when, in fact, they don’t.

But how can you tell if the cognitive problems you’re experiencing are the result of your adult ADHD or dementia?

ADHD Vs. Dementia

ADHD as a disorder has only been studied in the last few decades. Therefore, there isn’t any information on whether or not ADHD worsens as you age. However, it’s safe to assume you may notice different symptoms of your disorder as you age as you experience different lifestyle choices.

ADHD is a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder. Symptoms of the disorder include distractibility, delayed reaction response, difficulty focusing, impulsivity, reading difficulties, etc. Unlike dementia, ADHD is present at birth and is usually identifiable by the age of 5.

Dementia is a syndrome that develops as the result of a condition such as Alzheimer’s. Symptoms may include forgetfulness, impaired thinking skills that make daily functioning difficult, limited social skills, disorientation, and inability to recognize everyday things. Unlike ADHD, dementia is a degenerative series of symptoms that may develop later in life.

Can adult ADHD mean future dementia?

Adults with ADHD aren’t any more likely to experience dementia later in life as any other adult. According to ADDitude, ADHD deals with dopamine and norepinephrine, two chemicals in the brain that deal with movement, mood regulation, and your body’s fight or flight response.

Dementia, as a result of Alzheimer’s, is the result of the condition’s degenerative effects on the brain’s neurons. Therefore, although symptoms may appear similar by those experiencing the condition, they’re not related.

It can be beneficial for those with ADHD to seek psychiatric care. However, for those with dementia treatment is essential. Although some of the conditions that cause dementia may be irreversible, symptoms can be treated with neuropsychiatric programs.

Neuropsychiatric evaluations are important as we age. By 2030, it’s estimated that the number of people living with dementia worldwide will be as high as 75.6 million.

If you believe you’re suffering from symptoms of dementia, a neuropsychiatric evaluation at a professional inpatient psychiatric care facility may be able to give you the answers you want and the treatment you need. For more information on neuropsychiatric care for Alzheimer’s and dementia, contact NeuroPsychiatric Hospitals today.

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